Creative Suitcase» Jenn

Ten Thousand Villages Event: Fine Art & Megg

Jenn — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:45:40 +0000

Last week, 3/5ths of Creative Suitcase attended One Reason Why, a fine art event hosted by Austin’s Ten Thousand Villages. With fine dress, delicious specialty cocktails and tasty hors d’oeuvres, this truly was an elegant celebration of the exquisite art of fair trade. Or at least it was until we got there. Maybe it was the Dr. Seuss exhibit or the fact that Megg accidentally sat in someone’s plate that inspired our silliness. Whatever the cause, the end result was the same: an impromptu photo shoot. We believe Art on 5th should consider adding these to their collection.

(Note: Megg would like to add that no food was injured in the making of this blog post.)

Featured Client: CMIT Solutions

Jenn — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:25:06 +0000

CMIT Solutions is a national leading provider of managed IT and other computer consulting services. Last summer they approached Creative Suitcase for a little creative inspiration for their first ever Tech Makeover Contest. Not only did they need a creative theme, but they needed buy-in from franchisees in order to have a successful campaign. The final concept was based on vintage horror movie posters and brought fun to the IT industry. Plus, a special non-profit was awarded with the prize worth $75,000 so there were winners all around!

Your Names and Titles:
Melanie Fricke – VP Product Strategy
Shea Gordon – Marketing Manager
Sara Smith – Copywriter

Where are you located?
Headquartered in Austin, TX

Why Austin?
Beautiful – love the hills, outdoors, and the people

How many people does your company employ?
We have 15 home office staff in Austin and then 125 locations across the US

What does your company do?
We provide IT solutions to small businesses using the franchise model. Our franchise locations become the outsource IT department for small businesses (5 to 99 employees) in their local community. We are the best IT solution provider serving the small business market.

Who are your clients/customers?
Small businesses (5 to 99 employees)

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?
We were looking for an agency that could bring fresh ideas to the rather boring concept of IT.

What results have you experienced with us?
We have launched a national Tech Makeover contest which engaged more than half of our franchisee system to start marketing again. Over 20,000 contacts received our direct mail campaign. We received 163 stories into the contest. We were featured in over 72 media outlets and have now been fortunate enough to make a radical difference for a non-profit that provides assistance to special needs children. The franchisees united in this national effort and CMIT was able to give back in a big way – awarding The Monarch School of NE with a $75,000 Technology Makeover.

What has been your greatest success?
Getting over 50 franchisees to participate in our Tech Makeover was a huge win for us. We are seeing our franchisees come on board with the new marketing efforts we are generating. Another big win was telling the Monarch School that they won – they jumped up and down and even cried.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites)
Travel destination: Australia
Take home souvenir: Wine
Web site: www.techcrunch.com
Austin original: Waterloo

Three simple ways to keep your brand consistent online

Jenn — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:23:14 +0000

One of the most common design needs among those starting a new business is a logo which will eventually be used on business cards, letterheads and envelopes. Most people know a paper system helps to promote a cohesive image of their company in the brick-and-mortar world, so why don’t they continue this method in the digital world?

Here are 3 online areas where you can easily rev up your brand presence.

1. Email Signature

It’s estimated that around 210 billion emails were sent daily in 2008. Emails are well integrated into our daily activity and are a great place to start reinforcing your brand with an email signature. Not only will an email signature look professional, it will also be much appreciated by your clients when they need to access your contact information on the go or in a hurry.

Firstly, if you don’t have a signature, create one. You’ll want to include the basics such as:

Name
Position and company name
Phone numbers
Company’s website address

Additionally, consider if there are online environments that you use in a professional context such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. If so, add them below the basics.

Next, make a few adjustments to help your signature reflect your brand design. Use one or two of your company’s brand colors as your font colors. Make sure they’re legible and be sure to avoid light colors such as yellow. If your company regularly uses a font in their branded materials, select a web font that’s similar to the company’s non-web font.

Lastly, a logo can be a nice addition but integrating them is rather tricky. Several email applications allow you to insert an image into your signature, but this image sometimes appears as an attachment only, which defeats the purpose. Another route is embedding the logo but you risk landing in a spam folder. Until there’s a better way to do this, we suggest that you not worry about adding your logo.

2. Avatar

An avatar is an online users representation of him or herself. You’ll find these used in instant messaging, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and many more places. Just as a company uses their logo for all print and online branding materials, so should you. Use a professional picture for all your personal social media accounts.

Gravatar, which is a globally recognized avatar, makes this easy by offering a free, streamlined avatar service. When you register and upload an image, it generates an avatar and will automatically retrieve your avatar to be included in your online posts or comments. There’s no need to attach your avatar every single time; Gravatar does it for you.

3. Favicon

Short for favorite icon, this little graphic is also known as a website icon, URL icon, shortcut icon and bookmark icon.

It’s likely you paid good money for your logo, so why not put it to good use? It takes little effort to add it into your website, and it will definitely make a difference with brand awareness and recognition. Most browsers are now using the tab feature and having a favicon helps those with mutiple tabs easily to identify your page.

Favicons can be found in these places but it varies slightly from browser to browser: next to the page name in the tab, in the address bar or to the left of the address bar.

Be sure to follow these three simples steps and you’ll have a digital presence in no time!

Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation

Jenn — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:16:52 +0000

You wouldn’t expect a re-branding project for a housing commission to be “fun” but our fine clients at Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation (SHCC) allowed us to stretch the boundaries and give them some personality.

Your Name(s) and Title(s):

Ann Gass, Director of Contracts

How many people does your company employ?

What does your company do?

We are Contract Administrators for the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We ensure the property owners compliance with contracts to provide affordable housing throughout Texas and Arkansas.

Who are your clients/customers?

HUD as well as the owners, operators and resident of the properties we oversee.

What has been your greatest success?

Being recognized by HUD as one of the top-performing Contract Administrators.

Where do you find inspiration?

In my two boys and being outdoors

Why did you choose Creative Suitcase?

We were impressed by their vision, experience and superior customer service.

How did you hear about us?

Internet search

What results have you experienced with us?

CS updated our logo and website and created outstanding marketing materials. As we expand into consulting work, this new look helps us look more polished, professional and ready to help the customer.

Top 5 items in your suitcase (your favorites)

Travel destination: First Home Monterey County, CA

Take home souvenir: Fresh artichokes from Castroville The Artichoke Capital of the World

Website: Ours! www.shccnet.org

Logo/campaign/tagline: The old Oscar Mayer song

Austin original: KUT 90.5. Cant live without my public radio!